Journal of Eastern European Criminal Law
Journal of Eastern-European Criminal Law could stand out as a unique publication, at least in this part of the world, as an outcome of the partnership between specialists in Criminal law and Criminal Procedure law from the law faculties of the West University in Timisoara and the University in Pecs, who aimed at presenting, in a different language from their own, the serious amendments of criminal legislation that occurred in their countries in the post-communist era, an essential requirement for the rule of law. We envisage this journal, published semesterly, to be open to all researchers in the academic environment from the former communist countries, to professors, PhD students, but also, to magistrates and other professionals interested in the evolution of criminal legislation and in the more and more firm response to be given to the criminal phenomenon, while observing the fundamental human rights. Our concerns aim at enlisting the Journal in additional databases, others than the ones in which the magazine is presently indexed, namely Social Science Research Network (SSRN), EBSCO and HeinOnline. Announcement: Conferința Națională de Procedură Penală - Criminal Justice Conference (CJC) - 2026
The indeterminate nature of article 612-bis of the Italian Criminal Code: ambiguity as a psycho-crime
This article aims to provide an interpretation of the offense of stalking, starting from the concept of relationship as an unstable cooperative bond, not constrained by any financial ties or legal obligations. The abandonment of such an indirect relationship by one party must be accepted by the other in this cooperative game. Otherwise, according to the jurisprudence of the Court of Cassation, repeated, harassing, and threatening behaviors that cause a severe and lasting state of anxiety and fear can constitute the offense under Article 612-bis of the Italian Criminal Code. Naturally, while this norm has a character of determinacy due to the protection of the legal good of self-determination, it lacks interpretive determinacy. Therefore, it is up to the judge to interpret, on a case-by-case basis, the conformity of Article 612-bis of the Italian Criminal Code with the concrete facts that have occurred in reality.
legality, determinacy, offensiveness, scientific laws, psychic causality
Copyright (c) 2026 Journal of Eastern European Criminal Law https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Expert Evidence, Probability and Judicial Certainty in Criminal Proceedings
This article examines the role of expert evidence within the system of proof in criminal proceedings, focusing on the relationship between probabilistic expert opinions and judicial certainty. Particular attention is paid to the judge’s internal conviction (intimate conviction) as a decisive element of fact-finding and sentencing. The article argues that the assessment of evidence is inherently probabilistic, even where this is not explicitly acknowledged in judicial reasoning, which is especially evident in the case of expert opinions that rarely provide categorical conclusions. The resulting tension between probabilistic expert findings and the legal requirement of certainty raises fundamental questions regarding the evaluation and reliability of expert evidence. Using a theoretical and comparative approach, the study explores the limits of judicial certainty, the evidentiary value of expert opinions and their potential role as new evidence (novum) in retrial proceedings. It proposes a system-based perspective on criminal proof, according to which expert evidence and judicial conviction should be assessed as interconnected elements of the criminal justice system.
Reconstruction and Demonstration in Three Dimensions
The continuous technological advancement in forensic science creates new opportunities for recording, analyzing, and demonstrating crime scenes in court. Three-dimensional (3D) modeling and reconstruction have become one of the most advanced tools in crime scene investigation and forensic evidence presentation, surpassing traditional documentation methods by providing more detailed and interactive visualizations. The application of 3D models enables the spatial and temporal reconstruction of events, contributing to a more precise interpretation of evidence and enhancing the efficiency of investigations. This study explores the forensic applications of 3D reconstruction, focusing on crime scene examinations, forensic demonstrations, and courtroom evidence presentation. The research highlights that 3D technologies not only facilitate the digital documentation of crime scenes but also allow for testing alternative investigative hypotheses and verifying witness statements. Integrating 3D modeling into forensic investigations enhances objectivity in criminal inquiries and aids in informed decision-making within the justice system. Furthermore, 3D printing and photogrammetry technologies expand the toolkit of forensic analysis by enabling injury reconstruction, the comparison of crime scene evidence and objects, and the creation of models suitable for courtroom demonstrations. The study emphasizes that while 3D technologies offer significant advantages, their application must consider data protection, procedural legal challenges, and admissibility issues. In conclusion, the research finds that 3D modeling and reconstruction have become essential tools in forensic evidence analysis and courtroom proceedings, with the potential to play an even greater role in supporting criminal investigations and legal processes in the future.
Chasing Justice: Asset Recovery in Legal Theory and Practice and Serbia`s Path to EU Compliance
Countries lose billions of euros annually due to corruption, economic crime, and illicit financial activities. Europol estimates that between 0.7% and 1.28% of the EU`s GDP is linked to suspicious financial transactions, with only 2% of criminal proceeds frozen and 1% confiscated. These figures highlighted the urgent need for robust asset recovery mechanisms to combat crime and uphold justice. Rooted in the principle that “crime should not pay”, asset recovery ensures that no one retains gains acquired through unlawful acts, addressing economic, social, and moral harms caused by such activities. This article examines the key phases of asset recovery: tracing illicit proceeds, implementing legal mechanisms for freezing and confiscation, and managing confiscated assets. The tracing phase highlights challenges in financial investigations, particularly for crime like corruption, where secrecy and collusion hinder evidence collection. Legal mechanisms are analyzed, emphasizing the need for extended, non-conviction based, and third-party confiscation to align Serbian law with EU acquis. Proper management of confiscated assets is essential to prevent depreciation and ensure their use for victim restitution or public benefit. The article underscores the importance of balancing effective crime deterrence with human rights safeguards. It also examines international standards, with the special focus on EU Directives, and their application to Serbia`s legal framework. By addressing the challenges of translational and evolving crime, the article advocates for adaptive legal frameworks and best practices to strengthen the global fight against financial crime and ensure justice.
The study of 'The significance of negative clues' emphasizes the significance of negative clues - what is missing from a crime scene - in criminal investigations. It argues that the absence of certain evidence can sometimes reveal more about the crime than what is present. For example, in a child murder case, the lack of bloodstains led investigators to delve deeper, while in an attempted homicide case, the absence of gasoline contradicted the prosecution`s claims, resulting in an acquittal. The paper also explores psychological factors, such as the motives behind unsold stolen goods, which can influence how evidence is interpreted. Furthermore, the disappearance of Malaysian Flight MH370 is used to illustrate how missing electronic data can complicate investigations. In summary, the study suggests that investigators should consider both the presence and absence of evidence when analyzing a crime scene.
The Criminal Code's Response to the Act of Stalking - Implementation of the Istanbul Convention 10 Years Later
In order to prevent and combat all forms of violence against women, Istanbul Convention recognize stalking as a serios form of gender - based violence against the women, equal as all other forms of physical, sexual and psychological harassment. Topic of this work is to discuss where are border lines between socially acceptable conduct in which one person tries to get in touch with another, and when this conduct became form of violence that requires a criminal code reaction to protect victims right to private life. Furthermore, stalking is predicate crime, especially for domestic violence. Repeated attempts to unwanted contact can have seriously psychological consequences for the victim. To prevent that persistent contact from having serious consequences on the victim`s private life, it is crucial for the victim to identify in time when the behavior becomes stalking, in order to file a complaint appropriate timely manner, so that state law enforcement can react and provide protection. But the question is whether the Criminal Code requests that stalking is a repeated behavior how much intrusion is enough or is there any time frame in which intrusion must last longer, for reasonable and prompt reaction before the stalking gain some of the form of domestic violence.
Exercising And Protection of the Child's Right to Personal Relationships With Parents
The child's right to contact with parents is recognized as one of the basic rights in international and national legislation. According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have the right to maintain regular contact with their parents, except when this is not in their best interest. The issue of contact becomes particularly important in situations of divorce, guardianship, adoption, but also in situations where the parent is far away, such as work migration. New technologies, such as the Internet, mobile phones, video calls (Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp), social media and messaging applications, play a key role in preserving and promoting this right. They enable children and parents, regardless of geographical distances, to stay connected and maintain quality communication. The challenges of such communications concern the protection of the child's privacy and safety. Despite everything, sometimes the child, willingly or under the influence of others, and sometimes the parent who is obliged to do so, expressly refuses the possibility of any communication, which seriously endangers the best interest of the child. After a brief review and critical assessment of the existing mechanisms for exercising and protection of the right to personal relationships in Serbian, comparative and international law and practice, this paper will address newer theoretical approaches to the aforementioned legal institute and its legal protection, which could lead to further improving the normative framework in this delicate matter.
Hearing of The Witnesses - Psychological and Evidence Value of The Statement Given in The Pretrial Procedure
Witnesses are still important and very common evidence in criminal procedure. In the case of subjective evidence, it is very important to assess the credibility of the testimony correctly. The authorized official (criminalist, judge or public prosecutor) in the pretrial procedure has an extremely difficult task in evaluating the objectivity of what the witness presents during his hearing. Therefore, in addition to legal, the authorized official must also have extra-legal knowledge. To be able to conduct the hearing successfully, the authors indicate the importance of knowing the psychological processes and tactics of the authorized persons when taking the testimony from the witnesses. At the end of this paper, the authors analyze the problems related to the probative value of the statements given in the pretrial procedure, the use and the evidence value of thestatements of the witnesses given to the public prosecutor in the pretrial procedure that are used in cases of inconsistency between this statement and the statement of the witness given during the main hearing. Although the purpose of the existing Law on Criminal Procedure is primarily to present all the evidence immediately at the adversarial and public hearing, it must also provide exceptions from the direct presentation of the evidence.
Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Eastern European Criminal Law https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Many Faces of Confiscation in Italian Criminal Law
The Italian criminal code knew to recover the proceeds of crime just the confiscation, but that wasn`t the main goal. Over time, the Italian system has found tools to extend the recovery of sums involved in a crime. But we must be careful to remain linked to the crime, without preventing in a way contrary to the guarantee principles of the Italian criminal system.
Heartbeat Attached to Personal Identification
Monitoring the achievements of other scientific fields and to implement their results - such as, for example, 3D imaging systems or the possibilities of DNA based personal identification methods - into its own toolkit is one of the priority tasks of law enforcement and its personal responsibility forces, in order to support successful completion of its everyday duties. Measurement of the electric functioning of the human heart is one of these new scientific achievements that may give a lead on credible and reliable identification of a certain person. The application possibilities of this procedure in the fields of safety engineering, personal and primarily law enforcement should definitely be subject of criminalistics analysis. This study aims to introduce the application possibilities of electronic signals generated from the heart rate and the results of measured heartbeat from the aspects of law enforcement.
Investigation Challenges of Airmail Parcels Containing Drugs and Their Possible Solutions
The study examines the role of postal items (letters and packages) in the drug trade in the Hungarian drug market. Every day, more than a hundred thousand of consignments arrive in Hungary from countries outside the European Union. Many of those contain drugs or raw materials necessary to produce drugs. Identifying non-compliant parcels and filtering them out from the stream is challenging work. It is because of the large quantities on the one hand and on the other, the multiple rules and regulations parcel delivery services and law enforcement agencies are dealing with. This study focuses on increasing the identification of shipments containing illicit drugs. The study aims to provide an additional explanation as to whether a change in the risk analysis method can increase the number of successful detections. After studying the route of Hungarian postal items and based on questionnaires filled out by people who have recently lived or still live in drug rehabilitation institutions, the authors want to formulate practical proposals for law enforcement agencies. The suggestions made in the study can be used in everyday practice not only by Hungarian but also by all European law enforcement agencies.
The Context of the Confiscation and Recovery of Criminal Assets According to the System Requirements of a Constitutional State
The starting point of our research is twofold. First, the specific case of criminal asset forfeiture. In this case, the prohibition of double confiscation is violated when the civil claim of `a public body` as the victim, which is not enforced in the criminal proceedings but is defined in criminal procedural law as - is only enforced after the final order of confiscation. On the other hand, we have examined to what extent the system of procedural actions for the recovery of criminal property, as defined in criminal procedural law, helps in practice to solve the problems arising from parallel proceedings. Our conclusion is that in a constitutional state - regarding the prohibition of double confiscation - the harm to the accused cannot be increased by paying twice for the damage caused by the crime. That is, partly in the form of confiscation of property and partly as a civil claim by the victim. The fundamental elements of a constitutional state - especially the due process of law, the right for just procedure - have to be guaranteed by legislation and judicature. We also examined the possibilities of tracing the proceeds of crime and other crimerelated assets from a forensic perspective.
Hearing of the Witnesses - Psychological and Evidence Value of the Statement Given in the Pretrial Procedure
Witnesses are still important and very common evidence in criminal procedure. In the case of subjective evidence, it is very important to assess the credibility of the testimony correctly. The authorized official (criminalist, judge or public prosecutor) in the pretrial procedure has an extremely difficult task in evaluating the objectivity of what the witness presents during his hearing. Therefore, in addition to legal, the authorized official must also have extra-legal knowledge. To be able to conduct the hearing successfully, the authors indicate the importance of knowing the psychological processes and tactics of the authorized persons when taking the testimony from the witnesses. At the end of this paper, the authors analyze the problems related to the probative value of the statements given in the pretrial procedure, the use and the evidence value of the statements of the witnesses given to the public prosecutor in the pretrial procedure that are used in cases of inconsistency between this statement and the statement of the witness given during the main hearing. Although the purpose of the existing Law on Criminal Procedure is primarily to present all the evidence immediately at the adversarial and public hearing, it must also provide exceptions from the direct presentation of the evidence.
Public-Private Partnerships in Anti Money Laudering and Counter Financing Terrorism
The possibility of public-private cooperation has long been raised in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. It is a commonly used structure in many sectors around the world, so it was only a matter of time before this cost-effective and innovative solution, would be introduced in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. Several experts have already addressed this possibility, but no study has yet been carried out in Hungary. The aim of my research is twofold. One is to pioneer the linking of these two professional sectors, and the other is to present the European Union's efforts in this direction. I will briefly present the alternative of public-private cooperation in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, then I will explore the scientific positions with an international perspective, summarize the benefits and challenges, and finally I will give a professional opinion on the expected implementation.
Hungarian and International Aspects of Illegal Fishing
By virtue of the geographical and ethnographical characteristics of Hungary, precise codification of the regulations regarding fish farming is highly desirable which encompasses rules at the fields of both administrative and criminal law. Hungary, based on its small relative geographical area in Europe, is uniquely abundant in freshwater lakes, as well as in rivers, tributaries, and smaller streams, in relation to which it is necessary to set apart the regulatory frameworks regarding sport angling, recreational (hobby) angling, and fishing. For the aforementioned activities, only administrative regulations are required primarily, any violation of the laws in the course of practicing them, however, is a subject of the laws of infractions and criminal law. The Act CII of 2013 on Fish Farming and the Conservation of Fish (henceforth referred to as: Act) as well as the Decree 133 of 2013 of the Minister of Agriculture on the Specification of Regulations on Fish Farming and Conservation of Fish (henceforth referred to as: Decree) contain the statutory background of administrative regulations for this subject. The Act draws a basic distinction between the concepts of fish farming and fish catching where the former one is defined as activities related to the conservation, regeneration, and exploitation of fish stocks in natural water bodies, as well as the generic concept of aquaculture and other fish farming activities whereas the latter one is defined as catching, and not releasing back into the water, fish or other useful aquatic animal in the course of fishing or angling. In my essay, exclusively those possible legal responses will be considered which may be given to violations of the laws related to catching.
The Role of Security in Social Well-Being
The paper focuses on security as a highly valued political good whose provision is being one of the basic functions of the state realized internally through a functional approach to rights. It explores various phenomena that affect society and the overall quality of social life in the context of the traditional understanding of human rights in a democratic society, and how the fight against organized crime jeopardizes human rights. The current trend in combating organized crime is manifested in a narrow spectrum of repressive responses to security threats, shifting the policy of combating organized crime beyond the framework of social well-being as a concept that guides social organization. The consequence of implementing such a policy against organized crime is intensified victimization. This paper aims to consider the proportionality of responses to threats from organized crime in the context of the infringement of human rights due to the use of repressive measures. Also, in the second part of the paper, the authors want to emphasize that a functional approach to ensuring security, as a value that enables the sustainability and development of the community, implies an integrative approach, i.e., the need to involve women as actors in the security system because a security strategy without an integrative approach deprives society of its overall attributes, negatively impacting its resilience and diminishing it. The authors problematize the dysfunctionality of institutions, which results in the creation of market foundations for organized crime. Where the state effectively offers services that organized crime provides in weak states (debt collection, protection from violence and extortion, effective transactions in money and goods etc.), the space for the market placement of 'products' of organized crime is significantly narrowed. Considering the proportion of repressive and non-repressive proactive action against organized crime, in the second part of the paper, the authors assess the realistic scope of favorable consequences that such a combined policy of combating organized crime would produce in the sphere of the composite corpus of human and civil rights affected through the categories and institutions of the democratic political system.
Criminal Offences in Production and Trade in the System of Offences Against Economic Interests of the Republic of Serbia
Criminal law protection of economic relations is gaining more and more importance, especially after the end of the Second World War. With the development of the economy, there are changes in the field of incrimination of offences against economic interests, as well as criminal offences related to production and trade, which is one of the reasons for constant monitoring of legal legislation in this area. The commission of criminal offences in connection with production and trade endangers the economic system as a whole or certain of its institutes, and the occurrences of organized commission of these criminal offences, which take on the characteristics of professional criminality, attract special attention, hence the need for a more detailed analysis of the relevant issues arises, both from the normative and from the aspect of representation of these criminal offences in the economy of the Republic of Serbia. The aim of this work is to indicate the characteristics of offences against economic interests of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the position of criminal offences related to production and trade in the system of offences against economic interests.
The Polarization of the Italian Criminal Law System Against Corruption
Three important reforms have changed the Italian criminal law provisions against corruption in the last decade in a more repressive sense, based on rampant penal populism. However, with this scenario in the background, a second countertrend emerges which has so far been little explored. This is a trend due to the progressive come into effect of reward mechanisms for procedural cooperation which can significantly reduce or completely exclude the punishment. This essay analyses the interaction between these two opposing trends, highlighting the effects of the polarization of the anti-corruption criminal law statutes between repressive and rewards tendencies, and highlighting the critical issues concerning the constitutional principles of offensiveness and proportionality of the punishment of a system in which the punishment it is applied mainly due to non-cooperation, and therefore due to the post facto conduct.
Evaluation, Analysis and Reporting at the Beginning of the 21st Century
The basis task of every intelligence service, the evaluation, analysis and reporting has always been of utmost importance, yet this impotance is still growing in the first half of the 21st century.The war in the Ukraine higlihgts the value of correct and reliable analysis and reporting as well.However, this branch undergoes changes and challenges due to intelligence sharing policies and the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence. This study outlines how abovementioned phenomena can shape the intelligence & reporting work in a modern intelligence community.
Criminalisation in the Criminal Law: Experience of Legal Doctrine
The article deals with the issue of the essence of criminalization in criminal law. The vectors of development of criminalization of social relations are defined. The aim of the research: to determine the criteria of criminalization of social relations in modern conditions and to characterize the system of criminal law measures in the structure of criminal law. Traditional methods of socio-legal and formal-dogmatic analysis were used in the research: documentary, historical-legal, analytical, systematic, logical. According to the results of the study, the author states that criminal law of the classical type is replaced by criminal law of the utilitarian type, where the concept of crime is associated with the infliction of harm, and public danger plays an auxiliary function. In the system of security measures, the public danger of a deed does not form a criminal-legal prohibition. Criminalization is based on the element of expediency, where the main importance is given to security law. Criminal security law aims to affect a person who has not yet committed a socially dangerous act, and this is not a crime in the classical sense. In such a model, it is not the nature and extent of the harm caused that fills the crime, but the social danger of the person, since it is the subject that is the source of a particular socially dangerous behavior. It is proposed to fix the idea of new social protection and security in the criminal law.
Personal Identification Attempt in the Decisions of the European Court of Human Rights
The study shows the most representative cases in the European Court of Human Rights in the field of identity parade/line-up section. Its aim is to examine how we can prevent false personal identification in criminal cases which can lead the worst outcome: justizmord (miscarriage of justice). The reader can understand how the mistakes of identity parade (line-up, recognition) method is a main factor and it can have not wished outcome. Lastly the writer suggests the modification of some legal rules (“de lege ferenda”) for the lawmakers and a few preventive methods, tactics for the law enforcers (police service men, custom examiners, detectives), and criminalists as well.
False Confession as a Possible Cause of Wrongful Convictions
Overestimation of the confession of the accused is prohibited by Hungarian law and judicial practice. At the same time, however, confessions can play a key role, since the basic condition for some special procedures (arraignment, penalty order, plea bargaining) is the confession of the accused. In addition, the very important forensic role of the testimony and re-interrogation of the defendant cannot be questioned in general. Experience has shown that many factual issues are no longer in dispute if the defendant makes a confession in this respect, i.e. if the defendant provides evidence that is truly decisive ('conclusive') evidence in deciding the factual dispute, especially by making a detailed and revealing confession, not to mention if his confession contains 'testimony of fact' (i.e. the defendant states a fact that only the defendant can know). To this extent, the confession is also today the 'queen of evidence' (regina probationum). The layman's idea is that it is impossible for someone to admit to committing a crime he/she did not commit it, but practical examples show that there are many cases of false confessions in whole, in large part or at least in part that's why all statements made by the defendant, including confessions and denials, first and subsequent statements, and statements of co-defendants, must be examined in detail and their acceptance or rejection as evidence must be very carefully reasoned. The paper reviews the forms of false confessions and their dangers through some practical examples.
Treatment of Convicts in the Rehabilitation Process - International Standards
Adequate organization, both of the educational and the work process, is a prerequisite for the success of the effects of treatment in the process of resocialization of convicts. The survey data shows that 58% of convicts are involved in some of the work processes, and that 42% of convicts are out of work at the institute. Also, of the 200 convicts, 55 of them have only eight-year school, or do not have a full primary school, 118 have completed high school, and 27 convicts have higher or higher school qualifications. The decline of man's physical abilities is a consequence of the reduced need for movement, which can be compensated only by daily exercise and the adoption and maintenance of hygiene habits, a healthy diet, fostering a humane relationship between people, a better and more successful life. According to the data, although there is a will for recreation, there is no condition. Thus, in the Correctional Institution for Women in a semi-open and open department, on a sample of 100 respondents, 31 of them declared that sports and recreational activities do not take place, as well as in the closed department, out of 100 of them, 69 declared that there are no adequate conditions for recreation. Recreation may not attract the attention of every prisoner, the research concludes, but they give a strong emphasis on the individualization of the individual's various forms of interest. Together with other innovative approaches - as a role in promoting renunciation by motivating, engaging and inspiring individuals, as well as promoting meaningful and constructive therapeutic connections and support opportunities, recreational sport can be used as a platform to facilitate other innovative prison-based programs.
Certain Questions of the External, Internal and Criminal Investigation of the Criminal Offences Affecting the Financial Interests of the European Union - Results and Conclusions of a Hercule III Project
The main objective of this paper is to present the most important conclusions and findings of the “Certain questions of the external, internal and criminal investigation of the criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the European Union (fraud, corruption, money laundering and other illegal activities against the financial interests of the EU) with special focus on the role of OLAF, EPPO, Eurojust, and Europol” project which was coordinated by the University of Miskolc, Faculty of Law. In the framework of the project a practice-orientated comparative research was carried out, one international conference, three international workshops, a final international Summer Academy and a closing conference with book presentation were organised, based on the results of which the Hungarian project team formulated several conclusions and recommendations.
protection of the financial interests of the European Union
Women as Victims of Reproductive Coercion Committed by Male Partners and Possibilities for Their Criminal Protection in the Republic of Serbia
Reproductive coercion on women by male partners implies a range of behaviors by which male partners influence the reproductive autonomy of women, ie the onset of pregnancy or the continuation of a pregnancy that has occurred or its termination. The variety of undesirable behaviors of male partners excludes the possibility that reproductive coercion will remain completely outside the reach of criminal law norms in the Republic of Serbia. If we take into account that reproductive coercion is realized through psychological, physical, sexual and material violence that a male partner exhibits towards his female partner, then reproductive coercion can be linked to criminal acts such as domestic violence, rape, as well as light or serious bodily injuries. Nevertheless, the sophistication of certain methods by which men derogate women's reproductive autonomy affects the fact that they cannot be identified as relevant from a criminal law point of view, which gives this negative phenomenon the possibility to exist in the context of social conformity. We see the solution to this problem in the redefinition of the criminal offense of rape, that is, in the criminalization of rape without consent, since the aforementioned criminalization would remove the key shortcomings that we observed during the analysis of the criminal offenses in question.
Evidential Anomalies in Criminal Proceedings - the Use of Circumstantial Evidence
In criminal proceedings there are a number of difficulties in establishing proof. Evidence is always aimed at clarifying a past event, which clarification is made possible by evidence from the means of evidence. One could say that circumstantial evidence refers to the secondary circumstances related to the criminally relevant facts and, after proving these secondary circumstances, a conclusion can be drawn on the further fact, such as the fact of the crime and the identity of the perpetrator. Circumstantial evidence is related to the main issue to be proved, or one of its elements, and can prove the main issue through the related fact in such a way that the court (prosecution, investigative authority) can draw conclusions from the circumstantial evidence, first to another fact and then to the fact to be proved relevant for prosecution. Circumstantial evidence is a particularly important component of correct, legal factual inference and, through the emergence of the structures of consciousness discussed later, of judicial conviction, the subjective elements of judicial reasoning. Circumstantial evidence is in fact an inference from fact to fact. In the case of circumstantial evidence, the emphasis is not on what the evidence is, but on its connection with other evidence. It is essential that the factual inference is made by a court and that it records both what it has inferred and what it has concluded. In the context of the jurisprudential practice regarding circumstantial evidence, in other words, when there is no direct evidence of the event relevant to criminal law, in contrast to the jurisprudential practice of the Curia, we agree with the views in the legal literature criticizing the chain theory. In the authors view, there can be no doubt that the introduction of this interpretation of circumstantial evidence in the practice of the courts would resolve the rigidity of the interpretation of the Curia and could contribute to the ascertainability of the substantive truth.
To be Punished or Treated? The Concept of Pedophilia and Criminal Action Against Sex Offenders
Nowadays, not only life problems, but also deviance are being medicalized, which are considered less and less a mere violation of the rules, but rather a disease. Among sexual offenders, pedophiles occupy a special place, because there is also a biological aspect to the phenomenon. In addition, according to some studies, pedophile offenders have a high recidivism rate and problems that seem unmanageable to the law raise the need to find alternative solutions. Based on all this, the study seeks the answer to: should pedophilia be punished or treated?
Permissible Risk in Medical Malpractice - the Criminal Law Perspective
The present paper deals with permissible risk in the context of potentially criminal conduct by healthcare professionals. In practice, we have come across several cases involving wrongful death or bodily harm committed by doctors, and in most of these cases the doctors have claimed strict compliance with professional standards. Although some of them ended up in the prosecution phase, a significant number of defendants were convicted. Also, checking the case law in the field, only 8% of cases of culpable homicide, respectively culpable bodily injury, ended with acquittals, acquittals that were wrongly based, as we will show in the article, on the provisions of Article 16 para. 1 letter b) sentence II of the Criminal Procedure Code. Romanian jurisprudence also reveals that defendants who have this status do not follow the procedure of admission of guilt, invoking precisely the respect of the professional standard, and the practice of the courts is in the sense of lack of guilt in this context, a solution that is incompatible with the simplified procedure of admission of guilt. The aim of this paper is to clarify the concept of permissible risk and to frame it correctly within the architecture of the offence. At the same time, we will analyse a number of cases in the case law where either a breach of the professional standard has been found or where it has been held that this standard has been respected by the doctor.
Jurisdiction in Criminal Trials in Romania
The present study aims to provide an introduction into the system of criminal courts and their jurisdiction in Romania. The approach is an attempt to accommodate foreign public audience with the peculiarities of the national criminal justice system.
Human Rights Approach to AI Governance in Today`s Multicultural World
Human rights are international rules and values that can be used as a basic framework for AI governance, especially in today`s multicultural world. But with today`s fast changes and technological progress especially in the field of Artificial Intelligence it is assumed that if AI is not governed properly and with inadequate legislation than it can lead to breaking human rights, as well as it can create inequality and deny human rights globally. But if it used properly then it can promote human rights, increase prosperity, and create a better future for us all. Therefore, in this paper will be discussed the positive outcomes and the negative consequences of proper or not proper use of human rights in AI governance in today`s multicultural world.